Unexplained Injuries: Managing Concerns Around Physical Abuse course for GPs

Dealing with children who have received unexplained injuries can be challenging.

The common public perception of non-accidental injury is that of a child with a black eye, belt mark, slap mark or, in the worst cases, children like Victoria Climbié and Peter Connelly.

In reality, however, non-accidental injuries are rarely so obvious and medical practitioners may need to seek assistance from other professionals to determine the exact cause of injury.

Learning objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• supervise the child protection work of junior colleagues or trainees
• access and appraise relevant information on the child and family from other sources, including children’s social care
• describe what actions to take when there appears to be an insufficient response from other organisations or agencies
• access and appraise published evidence to support your decision making in cases of physical abuse
• present your concerns verbally and in writing in different multiagency settings